Opioids

A man overdosed at a Route 58 gas station last Wednesday. After an investigation, the East End Drug Task Force and Riverhead police charged a Bellport man, 22, with selling narcotics to the man.

By raising awareness and educating the public, organizers hope to help remove the stigma of addiction, a health crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. alone over the past two decades.

Developers of Peconic Care Addiction Research and Rehabilitation Center got a green light from the Riverhead IDA Aug. 6 to close on financing to build an 80-bed research and rehabilitation facility in Calverton. With all approvals now in place, the developer is ready to break ground.

Suffolk County has the ignoble distinction of poster child in New York’s spiraling heroin crisis. Suffolk had the highest number of opioid-related deaths — and the number of heroin overdose deaths specifically — among all 62 counties in N.Y. from 2009 to 2013.

The law is intended to cut down the number of fraudulent and stolen prescriptions, which will in turn combat prescription drug abuse, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.